Extra tags: 5GBiometrics
Thales shares Singapore's aim of becoming Asia's premier innovation and technology hub. Thales is well on its way to becoming Singapore's premier digital technology business, thanks to its strong local industrial foothold, key digital investments like the Thales Digital Factory, which opened at WeWork in 2018, and a slew of cooperative labs and research centres.
The EDB has been a significant partner with Thales in Singapore over the years, supporting the Group's investments and testbeds across numerous sectors, from airspace mobility to drone management to digital identity and biometrics. Thales' R&D capabilities in Singapore have recently expanded in two ways, supporting a variety of developing industries.
Establishing the Group’s InFlyt Experience Cloud Centre of Excellence (CCoE) in Singapore
The Thales Group will locate its InFlyt Experience Cloud Centre of Excellence at the Thales Digital Factory in Singapore, working on a broad spectrum of IFE digital services and technologies linked to the cloud. With projects executed from Singapore, it will cover site reliability expertise, security analysis and other ‘push-to-cloud’ projects, working in the Agile and Lean methodology of the Digital Factory.
The Cloud-certified engineers and DevOps engineers will drive digital projects locally that will advance the progress of inflight entertainment technology, with solutions that address actual customer pain points and challenges, ranging from proactive maintenance of aircraft systems to integrating onboard payment options or third-party solutions like gaming. Leveraging the skilled workforce from Singapore and strategic partners throughout the Asia region, this worldwide centre for IFE Digital Engineering will contribute to the homegrown solutions developed by Thales to deliver innovative digital services serving the needs of global airlines.
Deepening expertise and research on 5G, Biometrics and FinTech
Thales also has an established Digital Identity & Security Engineering Competence Centre (ECC) in Singapore with a team of 350 engineers working actively on advanced research, product development, and project delivery for customers worldwide. As part of its collaboration with EDB, close to 200 of these engineers will work on new digital innovation in the areas of 5G, FinTech and Biometrics.
The advanced research will include software engineering and development of 5G offerings, including e-SIMs for the consumer and automotive markets, embedded secure elements and digital services for telecommunications operators, such as Trusted Digital Identity. With strong credentials working with over 450 global telecommunications operators, Thales already has a strong presence in Singapore's 5G SIM sector, offering solutions for the three major national Mobile Network Operators in the country.
As more governments and institutions accelerate the adoption of digital financial services, Thales engineers from the ECC will work on software engineering and development for the FinTech sector, including research on security software for biometric payment cards, mobile security, and risk-based authentication software.
Other ECC teams will concentrate on advanced biometrics research, such as embedded AI for enhanced biometric card authentication and leveraging AI algorithms and machine learning for ID fraud prevention, to provide governments and businesses with high-tech solutions for safe ID management.
“Singapore consistently ranks in the top spot as the region’s leading technology innovation hub, thanks to its modern infrastructure, excellent connectivity and strong talent pipeline. In addition, Singapore has a vibrant research & innovation ecosystem, with extensive collaborations between public- and private-sector players. Over the last decade, we are grateful and privileged to have had the strong support of the EDB to grow our presence and reputation as a digital technology leader here. We are excited about the next growth chapter, as we further develop our local competencies in new and fast-growing areas such as 5G, Cloud, Biometrics and FinTech.” Kevin Chow, Country Director and Chief Executive, Thales in Singapore
“Singapore has been a key location for Thales’ digital transformation plans. This new decision to grow its tech innovation activities in emerging areas such as 5G, Biometrics and Cloud here is testament to Singapore’s strength as a tech ecosystem,” said Tan Kong Hwee, Executive Vice President, EDB. “We look forward to Thales’ activities to develop innovative solutions, products and services for the world, from Singapore.”
